By Mary Beth Franklin; InvestmentNews ~ Jan 05, 2018

Now that it’s January, financial advisers should prepare themselves for an onslaught of questions from clients asking why their monthly Social Security check stayed the same or even declined this month. After all, weren’t Social Security benefits supposed to increase by 2% in 2018?

Yes, Social Security benefits are 2% higher than last year, boosting average retirement benefits by about $27 per month and maximum benefits claimed at full retirement age by about $100 per month.

By Dan Jones; Light Reading ~ Jan 04, 2018

Early on Thursday, AT&T said it would be the first US operator to launch a mobile 5G service, in 12 markets in “late 2018,” but the plans announced so far leave some fairly significant questions unanswered.

For instance, I asked an AT&T spokeswoman what 5G devices will be available for the service. This is important because most in the industry don’t expect 5G smartphones to be available until sometime in 2019.

By Emily Zulz; ThinkAdvisor ~ Jan 03, 2018

A new tool launched by AARP and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) aims to help investors select a financial advisor.

The free online tool, AARP Interview an Advisor, is designed to take the guesswork and mystery out of the process of interviewing and hiring a financial advisor.

“Many people can benefit from working with a financial professional, but they just don’t know where to start when it comes to selecting one,” said Joseph Borg, NASAA president and director of the Alabama Securities Commission, in a statement.

From John Wasik; Forbes ~ Jan 03, 2018

It doesn’t matter where you are in life, you need to look ahead. Getting old is no ice cream cone and you need to talk about it.

When it comes to long-term care, the subject will impact every family. That’s a guarantee. You will have to manage or care for older relatives — and yourself. With Americans living longer, it’s a given.

By Carolyn Y. Johnson; The Washington Post ~ Jan 02, 2018

It’s not easy to get Americans mad at a behind-the-scenes industry they’ve barely even heard of, but pharmaceutical companies have spent most of this year trying.

“Who decides what you pay for your medicines? Not who you might think,” a concerned woman’s voice says in a radio spot airing in the District last month. “More than one-third of the list price of a medicine is rebated back to middlemen, like insurers and pharmacy benefit managers.”

By Mari Silbey; Light Reading ~ Jan 02, 2018

Layoffs were reportedly part of AT&T’s year-end plans, though less touted than its employee bonuses.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) has been very enthusiastic about the Republican tax bill that was signed into law right before 2017 came to a close. And as a sign of its appreciation, the company announced on December 20 that it would invest an additional $1 billion in the US in 2018 and pay out a bonus of $1,000 each to more than 200,000 domestic employees.

From Dr. Kevin A. Schulman; The Hill ~ Dec 28, 2017

The health care debate entered a new phase in 2017. While the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare failed in dramatic fashion in the Senate, the tax bill removed the individual mandate setting up concerns about the future of the individual insurance market.

At the end of the year, the Children’s Health Insurance Plan received temporary funding, however questions about the future of the program will return in 2018.

By Terence P. Jeffrey; CNS News ~ Dec 27, 2017

The number of Social Security beneficiaries hit a record 61,859,250 in November, according to data released by the Social Security Administration.

At the same time, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with unemployment at the lowest rate since 2000 (4.1 percent), there were 126,827,000 full-time workers in the United States (including government workers). Yet that equaled only 2.05 full-time workers for each person receiving Social Security benefits.

By Peter Whoriskey, Washington Post – Dec 23, 2017

TULSA — Tom Coomer has retired twice: once when he was 65, and then several years ago. Each time he realized that with just a Social Security check, “You can hardly make it these days.”

So here he is at 79, working full time at Walmart. During each eight-hour shift, he stands at the store entrance greeting customers, telling a joke and fetching a “buggy.” Or he is stationed at the exit, checking receipts and the shoppers that trip the theft alarm.

From Howard Gleckman; Forbes ~ Dec 23, 2017

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) promises that 2018 will be the year Congress attempts to reduce spending on big federal programs like Medicare. As that debate unfolds, keep this in mind: A 65-year old woman will need to have put aside $95,000 to have a just a 50/50 chance of paying her Medicare premiums and prescription drug costs over her remaining lifetime. If she wants to 90 percent chance of paying her Medicare bills, she’d need $147,000. The estimates are from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.